Police: Muslim Women Arrested for Anti-Jewish Provocation

Several of the Muslim women who repeatedly attempted to physically block Jews from visiting the Temple Mount were arrested, police have said.

Police commander Avi Biton reported the arrests in a letter to Michael Puah, who had sent a letter of complaint over the women’s provocative actions.

The women’s actions were caught on film over the Passover holiday. The women moved to sit in front of a passageway in order to prevent Jewish visitors from accessing the area, but eventually moved after police officers spoke to them.

Jewish visitors reported that the women yelled insults at them as they walked by.

In his letter to Biton, Puah noted that the women’s actions were not a one-time protest, but rather, part of an ongoing effort by female Muslim worshipers to interfere with Jewish access to the holy site.

Biton said that several of the women had been arrested, and some would face criminal charges. Some were temporarily barred from visiting the Temple Mount, he said.

Puah noted that the provocations caused concern not only due to the issue of Jewish access to the holy site, but also due to the recent discovery of a Muslim terrorist cell that was active on the Temple Mount. “There is real fear that from this group of women who do whatever they please will come a female terrorist, or even a male terrorist hidden by those baggy clothes, who will complete the work of the terror cell that was caught,” he wrote.